It Was The Native Country Of
Padma Sambhava, One Of The Chief Apostles Of Lamaism, I.E. Of Tibetan
Buddhism, And A Great Master Of Enchantments.
The doctrines of Sakya, as
they prevailed in Udyana in old times, were probably strongly tinged with
Sivaitic magic, and the Tibetans still regard that locality as the classic
ground of sorcery and witchcraft.
Hiuen Tsang says of the inhabitants: "The men are of a soft and
pusillanimous character, naturally inclined to craft and trickery. They
are fond of study, but pursue it with no ardour. The science of magical
formulae is become a regular professional business with them. They
generally wear clothes of white cotton, and rarely use any other stuff.
Their spoken language, in spite of some differences, has a strong
resemblance to that of India."
These particulars suit well with the slight description in our text, and
the Indian atmosphere that it suggests; and the direction and distance
ascribed to Pashai suit well with Chitral, which may be taken as
representing Udyana when approached from Badakhshan. For it would be quite
practicable for a party to reach the town of Chitral in ten days from the
position assigned to the old capital of Badakhshan. And from Chitral the
road towards Kashmir would lie over the high Lahori pass to DIR, which
from its mention in chapter xviii. we must consider an obligatory point.
(Fah-hian, p. 26; Koeppen, I. 70; Pelerins Boud. II. 131-132.)
["Tao-lin (a Buddhist monk like Hiuen Tsang) afterwards left the western
regions and changed his road to go to Northern India; he made a pilgrimage
to Kia-che-mi-louo (Kashmir), and then entered the country of
U-ch'ang-na (Udyana)...." (Ed.
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